Avoiding cab fare cost teen his life

A Teenager died after climbing out of a moving taxi to avoid the fare – despite having enough money to pay, an inquest heard.

Josh Harley, 19, died from head injuries when he hit the ground after scrambling out of the window of the Hackney Carriage taking him from a night out in the town centre to his home in Lower Earley.

An inquest at Windsor Guildhall yesterday heard the popular music lover had formed a habit of taking taxis home and not paying.

A statement from his friend Elliot Cooper, who had been drinking with him on the night he died on Friday, September 19, last year, said: “I know he has run from cabs before – on three occasions in the past six months. He would tell the cab driver he would get money from the cashpoint in a garage.”

But on this occasion Mr Cooper made sure Josh had enough money on him to make sure he could pay.

However Josh is believed to have gone on to another bar in the town centre without his friend before getting into a silver Hackney Carriage in Market Place.

At around 2.15am on the Saturday the taxi got to Chatteris Way – near Josh’s home in Irvine Way – where he told driver Fidda Saleem to stop.

Mr Saleem, a taxi driver for 15 years, then told him to pay the fare of around £12, but Mr Harley said he would have to go and get money out as he claimed he did not have any on him.

The inquest heard he infact had £11.71 on him.

The driver then asked for some ID to ensure Mr Harley came back, but he refused, resulting in Mr Saleem calling police.

A statement from Mr Saleem – who was unable to attend the inquest as he was in Pakistan – said: “I could see he was trying to open the door. As the police station was not far away I thought I would take him there.

“I drove around 10 to 15 yards and within a minute I heard a noise. I looked back and he was no longer there. I saw him on the road and I realised he was hurt. He had obviously jumped from the car.”

Josh, a stores and mailroom assistant for Thames Valley Primary Care Agency in Cremyll Road, Central Reading, is believed to have wound down the window to escape when he was unable to open the locked passenger door.

When the cabbie discovered Josh lying in the road, he called an ambulance which arrived and took him to Royal Berkshire Hospital.

He was transferred to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where he died five days later.

Toxicology reports revealed Josh, a former Forest School pupil, had been three times over the drink-driving limit when the incident took place.

Forensic investigator Sarah Tarrant said the amount of alcohol would have made him suffer from a lack of co-ordination and ability to walk or stand and result in “increased risk-taking”.